I am who I am because of what I lived, because of what I heard, because of what I read... that is to say that I am who I am because of my mother, because of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty, because of Tertullian, and because of Epicurus. In other words, they love me for what I love, because I bring them closer to the indisputable truth of wonderful teachers. That's why when I arrive, there's notice, and it's felt when I'm gone.

The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time given me new courage to face life joyfully, have been truth, ethics, and goodness. I will call this a cosmic religious feeling; it is very difficult to explain this feeling to anybody who is entirely without it, principally because there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it. We mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things we create. Keeping that in mind, gives meaning in life.